HEALTH-U.S.: No Room for Ailing Aliens?

By Haider Rizvi Reprint | | Print |

Haider Rizvi

NEW YORK, Jan 30 2004 (IPS) - In a long line of patients outside the emergency room of a busy New York hospital, Francisco Garcia finds it hard to stand on his two feet at ease as he waits his turn to see a doctor.

In a long line of patients outside the emergency room of a busy hospital here, Francisco Garcia finds it hard to stand on his two feet at ease as he waits his turn to see a doctor.

“Give me… give me some medicine,” he pleads in pain, his whole body erupting in trembles and shivers every now and then. “I can’t wait… give me something”.

But Garcia must wait, as there are many others ahead of him that the nurses on duty are obligated to treat first. After about an hour, his name is announced, and he is off to the emergency room.

He is lucky, perhaps.

Garcia has no idea that if certain lawmakers in the U.S. Congress succeed in passing a proposed bill, a visit like this will become much riskier for millions of undocumented immigrants like him.

“The hospitals need to ask patients if they are citizens of the United States. How about that?” said Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher while introducing his draft bill in the House of Representatives Jan. 7.

“If the patient says ‘yes’, no further action is required,” he added. But if the patient says ‘no’, the hospital will be required to ask what country he or she is from and the patient’s immigration status, according to Rohrabacher.

The proposed law also requires hospitals to finger-print and photograph all undocumented immigrants who seek emergency medical help, and to hand them over to immigration authorities within two hours of treatment.

“America has now become the HMO (health maintenance organisation, a medical services provider) to the world,” said Rohrabacher in a statement. “Our healthcare system, our emergency rooms, are breaking down under the pressure and the strains of illegal immigrants”.

Currently, about 8 to 12 million illegal immigrants live and work in the United States, almost one-half of them from neighbouring Mexico. They are an essential cog in the country’s economic wheel.

A Medicare bill, also proposed by Rohrabacher’s Republican Party (led by President George W. Bush) allocates about one billion dollars over 10 years to reimburse hospitals that treat undocumented immigrants.

But Rohrabacher would allow hospitals to receive the federal money only if they comply with his bill.

“A hospital that does not want to receive federal funding under the programme in that Medicare bill does not have to participate in this,” he said.

The politician’s remarks have created waves of anger and resentment among medical professionals and immigrant support groups.

“Hospitals have a mission to treat everyone who walks through their doors,” says Tom Nickels, senior vice president of the American Hospital Association, which represents 5,000 U.S. hospitals.

“Hospitals are not the border patrol. They care for the patient first and ask other questions later,” he added in an interview.

Doctors at Bellevue Hospital, where Garcia went for treatment, agree with Nickels.

“We strongly oppose this legislation,” Spokeswoman Pam McDonnell told IPS. “It makes no sense.”

She says Bellevue, which is staffed by the New York University Medical School, cares for patients, “regardless of their income or immigration status”.

Critics say the proposed legislation would force illegal immigrants to avoid seeking emergency treatment, even if they found themselves in a desperate situation.

“The impact of such a policy would be disastrous,” says Partha Banerjee of New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE), a rights group based in New York.

“Immigrants who are already disproportionately represented among the nation’s uninsured will avoid hospitals when they hear about the policy,” he added in an interview.

Banerjee fears Rohrabacher’s bill would lead to “unnecessary deaths”, and eventually increase hospital costs by forcing people to put off medical care until they are deathly ill.

Others warn that closing doors on illegal immigrants could cause an increase in the cases of communicable diseases.

The law would “put all members of local communities at risk as well as the affected individual”, Rev Michael Place, president of the Catholic Health Association (CHA), warned Rohrabacher in a recent letter.

But despite strong opposition from medical organisations and rights group, observers do not rule out the possibility of Rohrabacher’s bill becoming legal reality.

“It’s likely that his bill will get through,” says a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, which closely monitors legislative business. “Rohrabacher often influences other conservative congressmen”.

The draft bill suggests Garcia’s ailment should not be seen as a medical emergency.

“An emergency is if someone is in immediate danger of dying,” says Rohrabacher, who thinks that many illegal immigrants receive “advanced treatment” financed by U.S. taxpayers’ money.

Garcia, a flower-man who works outside a Manhattan grocery store for four dollars an hour, says he fell sick because of cold weather. His job requires standing outside the store all night, sprinkling water on flowers and making bouquets.

He says he is unaware of the debate on emergency treatment for immigrants like him.

“There is no health insurance for me,” Garcia says. “I have an ID, but that is not real. If they really passed this law, then, no, I am not coming here (the hospital) again.”